You are here

Pages

Recently we were talking about the upcoming Thief 4, which inevitably brought us back to the time-honored Thief series. On the thief-thecircle.com site there are tons of fan missions and mods, but I wanted to post a few links to some mods that nicely update the graphics of Thief 2.

First off, the widescreen mod. If you get no other mod try this one, it makes a noticeable difference when playing the game on big monitors.

Finally, the Doom 3 engine is being used to make a new set of fan mission tools, called the Dark Mod. You'll need Doom 3 to play it, not Thief 2. Here's a link to a standalone mission called The Tears of St Lucia. The AI needs some tweaking, but this conversion will be amazing if they get it right.

I just completed Lord Bafford's Manor. I was in the zone for 1 hour, and 17 minutes. I loved every second! I pickpocketed every available key. There wasn't a drop of blood spilt by my hands, although there are a few bruised noggins from the blackjack. Not too many, though. I prefered to eliminate certain torches with water arrows, stayed in the shadows, moved slowly, and travelled with the guards (a few feet behind) after checking out patrol patterns. I read a few books along the way. I finished with around 900 gold. And I found a secret escape route to the streets to swiften my departure after collecting the sceptre. Fantastic!

The level was huge, by modern day standards. It was refreshing. The lack of handholding and an old school map really add to the experience.

So far, so good!

You have no idea how happy you've made me. Just thinking back. I think I need to play this again. Wait til you play Thief 2.

Motherf*cking Iceman, I'm the top gunner. Heater on blast, I'm the number one stunner.

There tends to be a noticeable difference in the difficulty levels; Hard and Expert not only change enemy placement but also loot placement and where certain keys are, making them replayable even if you've already beaten it at a particular difficulty level. Overall, the significant mechanical differences are:
- Less health. Usually not a big issue, unless you're fighting or falling a lot.
- Less available equipment. From the store, sometimes in the level.
- Different loot. Not less or more, necessarily, but literally different objects with different placement.
- The loot requirement. The Expert number will require you to stretch beyond what you'll pick up in completing the bare objectives. This and the additional objective are probably the biggest mechanical effect.
- More guards. Sometimes with different sensitivities, but your basic stealth rules still apply, so that part is not as big of a deal.
- Different objectives. Sometimes just slight differences, sometimes very different. (Normal usually skips the "escape after the objective" bit. Which is why I never play on Normal, since half my fun is getting back out again).

- Different objectives. Sometimes just slight differences, sometimes very different. (Normal usually skips the "escape after the objective" bit. Which is why I never play on Normal, since half my fun is getting back out again).

Particularly in no-knockout runs. I had a bad habit in Thief games of just knocking out everyone and piling the bodies up somewhere so I could run around unhindered. But that makes getting out trivial.

Well, first this subforum at Through The Looking Glass is basically ground zero for fan missions. People are still making more, and I haven't played any in a while, so there are doubtless many that I've missed. If you haven't played an fanmissions before, you'll want to grab GarrettLoader to simplify the installation process.

I didn't play many Thief 1 fan missions (there are many more for Thief 2), but one I did play is The Saint of Redmound which uses the engine in some clever ways and is a solid Thief mission to boot.

Shadows of the Metal Age is an entirely new campaign for Thief 2, with a new character, new voicework, etc. It's almost as polished as the original, and has a number of fascinating settings: a snowy cathedral, a moving train, a big museum, etc.

I don't have access to the complete list of Thief 2 missions I played, so this will just hit the highlights of the ones I remember:Heist Society is a good mansion mission, with excellent support for multiple difficulty levels. Ominous Bequest is another mansion mission, with a twist. Equilibrium puts you directly against other fully-trained Keepers. The Turtle on Its Back is an escape from a sinking ship.

If you're looking for places to go from there, this thread has several lists of acclaimed missions.

Finally there is The Dark Mod, Thief gameplay in the Doom 3 engine. You currently need a copy of Doom 3 to play (they're working towards going standalone) but there are dozens of missions for that alone.

That looks cool, although I don't like the mask/scarf thing he wears. Makes him look a bit to generic. I'm a huge fan of the series, but I'm not sure how much I want a Thief 4. The series ending was just so good, that trying to continue past is seems so odd. Perhaps if you don't play Garret.

My big question at this point is whether it's going to be better than Dishonored. The Thief games have a lot of uniqueness that Dishonored didn't touch since it went in a different direction, but Dishonored has raised the bar high for first-person stealth games.

I hate to exhibit so little imagination, but it's looking more than a little Dishonored-ish (Dishonorable?). Did Garrett jump in a time machine?

Man, you are right, that does look like Dishonored!

Hey there's rope arrows it seems that's a big plus for me. Also Dishonored looks like thief not the other way around

...The mask doesn't help, and I know they are gonna turn it to more actiony sort of game just to try to sell more.

Gremlin wrote:

My big question at this point is whether it's going to be better than Dishonored. The Thief games have a lot of uniqueness that Dishonored didn't touch since it went in a different direction, but Dishonored has raised the bar high for first-person stealth games.

Not sure if I agree with this. I like dishonored, but overall the stealth felt meh and easy peezy. I did a nonlethal route just for the sake of challenge, I never was able to do that in thief. Not to mention I enjoyed the story much more in the thief series.

Yeah, leaving a trail of dead behind you was always an option in Thief. It was actually easier to stay non-lethal, though, because killing people consumed ammo and left bloodstains, which would need to be cleaned with a precious water arrow if in a trafficked location.

Like everyone else, I'm rather worried they're turning it into a Dishonored clone. Thief's world was remarkable, one of the most completely realized for its time, and it would be a shame if it were polluted with the themes from the other game.

My big question at this point is whether it's going to be better than Dishonored. The Thief games have a lot of uniqueness that Dishonored didn't touch since it went in a different direction, but Dishonored has raised the bar high for first-person stealth games.

Not sure if I agree with this. I like dishonored, but overall the stealth felt meh and easy peezy. I did a nonlethal route just for the sake of challenge, I never was able to do that in thief. Not to mention I enjoyed the story much more in the thief series.

The Dark Mod is now available as a standalone release, you don't need Doom 3 to play it. I haven't messed around with it in a year or so, but it might be time to fire up the Dark Mod again and see what's new.

The Dark Mod is now available as a standalone release, you don't need Doom 3 to play it. I haven't messed around with it in a year or so, but it might be time to fire up the Dark Mod again and see what's new.

I've been fiddling around with this for the last hour or so. It makes a striking difference. I haven't done any side-by-side comparisons with the original textures yet, but just going off the general vibe so far, I feel like they did a really nice job of respecting the original artwork. Once this is done, it may end up becoming the default way for me to play the game. It's that good.